I understand that in Vietnam, Kerry and Jim Rassman threw a grenade into a rice bin and ran. The grenade exploded before they could get away and some rice and a piece of shrapnel hit Kerry in the ass. Then he claimed the shrapnel was from a mine that exploded under his boat later the same day. Is that correct?

"Jim Rassman in the Washington Post describes how Sen. Kerry really picked up a tiny piece of metal that day. As they were heading back to the boat, Kerry and Rassman decided to blow up a five-ton rice bin to deny food to the Vietcong. In an interview, Rassman recalled that they climbed on top of the huge pile and dug a hole in the rice. On the count of three, they tossed their grenades into the hole and ran.

Evidently, Kerry did not run fast enough. "He got some frag and pieces of rice in his rear end," Rassman said with a laugh. "It was more embarrassing than painful." At the time, the incident did not seem significant, and Kerry did not mention it to anyone when he got back on the boat. An unsigned "personnel casualty report," however, erroneously implies that Kerry suffered "shrapnel wounds in his left buttocks" later in the day, following the mine explosion incident, when he also received "contusions to his right forearm." "
http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/002447.php

Old Guy